Cliff Claven’s (maybe not so) Useless Fact #37

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Did you know that the local, provincial and federal governments have spent an estimated $3 billion on economic development in New Brunswick since the 1999-2000 budget and total corporate income taxes are up by $30 million per year?

In the same period, Equalization payments are up by $630 million per year.

Kevin O’Leary said to reduce your pitch to less than 90 seconds. There is mine in 20.

4 thoughts on “Cliff Claven’s (maybe not so) Useless Fact #37”

Sorry David but I don’t understand your pitch.
Are you saying :
* they should spend more economic development?
* they should spend less on economic development?
* they should spend $ more effectively?
* they should have invested the $3B in stocks and given the province the gains?

I guess I’d get kicked off Dragon’s Den. My point is that government should see this as a very clear indication that it hasn’t been working and that we need to rethink economic development. That is all I am saying. This doesn’t infer anything beyond that. My own view is that we need a system-wide review and rethink (as I have been saying for years), then set a new vision for what we want from our economic development efforts and then determine what structure or systems are needed to achieve the vision.

Again, making it simple, if we rolled back the tape to 1990 and set as our vision to spend $3 billion to get a 60% increase in Equalization payments, a stagnant population and net out-migration of people every single year during the 12 year period – then we would have lived up to our vision.

The most important part of a good pitch is the ‘call to action’. A vague statement like ‘rethink’ isn’t a call to action. Setting a target isn’t a call to action. Complaining about the results isn’t a call to action.

@Stephen Downes
I think that today’s column regarding gazelles is clearly the call to action. Let’s find the best and the ones that truly think big and help them grow. Focus the effort on the highest (un)common denominator, not the lowest.